Automatic stop mechanism for sheet feeders



July 1, 1930.

J. E. LANDERS AUTOMATIC STOP MECHANISM FOR SHEET FEEDERS I5 Sheeis-Sheet l Qriginal Filed Oct. 14, 1925 July 1, 1930. J. E.ILANDERI*VS 1,769,223?

. AUTOMATIC STOP MECHANISM FOR SHEET FEEDERS Original Filed Oct. 14, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet '2 INVENTOR Jaw/114g M44 mm M ATTORNEY July 1, 1930. J. E. LANDERS AUTOMATIC STOP MECHANISM FOR SHEET FEEDERS Original Filed Oct. 14, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July 1, 1930 nmrsnsrarss earlier as JAMES E. L icnnns, or new roan, n. ASSIG-NOR or ONE-THIRD o enemas c.

DEXTER, or PEARL RIVER, NEW YORK, ann one-a rman TO JAMES 1-1. MCCARTHY, or BnoonLYn, new roan; asseuse A. nnxrnn EXECUTRIX orsAIn rnorans c.

DEXTER, DECEASED AUTOMATIC sror icnonanrs a non. sneer FEEDERS Application filed October 14, 192$,Scria1No. 62,431. Renewed February 27, 1930.

The invention relates to apparatus serving to convey sheet material to another machine for subsequent operation thereon and to such other machine, and 1t is particularly appl cable to sheet feedin machines and sheet -33 folding or analogous machines when used together, that is to say, when the sheet folding machines are supplied with material directly from the sheet feeding machines.

An object of the invention is to provide an automatic, efiicie'nt and adequate means of interrupting the operation of a normally continuous feeder when for any reason a sheet fed into the folder, or other machine of analogous character into which the feeder sends.

tie sheets, fails to, pursue its normal course therein or after sheets of apredetermined number have been deliveredto the folder or similar machine. c

It sometimes happens thata sheet will not pursue its normal course through a folder for some reason, as, because a corner of they sheet has been a. nod or an edgeto-rn or the "sheet has been given a wrong direction. In

such an event the sheet maybecoine rumpled] and impede the normal progress through the feeder of following sheets, thus causing what is known in the art as a tchoke up, that is to say, causing the disturbed sheets to form a mass, which mass may so clog the machine as to interrupt itsoperation or indeed damsome of its parts. In addition to the damage done to the machine, stock is destroyed, time is lost by the operator in clearingthe machine and restoring it to running order and on occasion inrecounting sheets.

"Further objects of the invention areito provide means for interrupting the opera-' tion of a sheet feeder which means shall be simple in construction. and operation, easily accessible and attachable, and inexpensive.

Theseand other objects of the invention will in part beobvious and 111 part be more fully set forth in the followinodescri otion.

The invention consists in the novel parts,

improvements, combinations, and features of construction herein shown and described.

In the accompanying drawings, which are referred tolherein and form part hereof, is illustrated a preferred embod ment of thefnism in stop position; and.

inventiomthe same serving in connection With the description herein, to set forth the principles of the invention.

Of the drawings:' i

F 1. is a longitudinal section through 55 the discharge end of a sheet feeding machine and an upper part of a sheet folder, together with parts of an automatic stop mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention;

F 2is-a plan View of certain parts shown go in the stop mechanism, showing the same in running position;

Fig. 6 1s a view s milar to F 1g. 5 with some .parts broken away and showing the mecha- Fig. 7 is a detail sectional viewon the line L7 .01"- Fig. 6.

Referring in detail to the drawings, there 1s illustrated therein a preferred embodiment of. the nvention, shown asused with a sheetso feeding machine and a sheet folder, the latter being supplied with material by the sheet feeder. As has been said, the primeobject of the invention is to provide means for automatically stopping the sheet feeder and pre- 35 venting the feeding of any more sheets into a the folder when, for any reason whatsoever a sheet already in the folder fails properly [to pursue its normal course through the folder. In pursuance of this object and accord- 90 111g tothe invention, means are provided for automatically stopping the sheet feeder at a predetermined time, as when a sheet should have reached a certain position in its course through the folder; If, however, the sheet es in the folderdoes pursue its .course through the folder in-a normal manner and reaches said position at the predetermined time, mechanism will be brought into play by the sheet itself which will prevent the operation ,100

of the said automatic stopping means with the result that both feeder and folder will continue to operate until the supply of sheets is Xhausted when the feeder will cease to operate. I

As shown in Fig. 1 sheets of paper P are placed in a feeder 9 and are fed forward by a series of drop rollers 11 mounted upon a shaft 12. The raising and dropping'of these rollers 11 is controlled by a cam 13, mounted upon cam shaft 14, and acting upon a bell crank lever 15 pivoted upon a shaft 16. One arm 17 of said lever 15 engages a lever 18 rotatably mounted at one end upon a shaft 19 and freely engaging at its other end the shaft 12 upon which the drop rollers 11 are mounted, all as clearly shown in said Fig. 1. Thesheet of paper thus fed forward from the paper P is engaged by drop rollers 21 and rollers'22, said drop rollers'21 being mounted upon a shaft 23, see Fig. 2, and said shaft 23 being freely mounted upon ends of arms 24, one arm only being shown. At their opposite ends said arms 24 are rigidly mounted upon a rock shaft 26 upon which is also rigidly mounted another arm 27 the opposite end of which engages a cam 28 mounted upon the shaft 14. The arm 27 is raised and lowered by the cam 28, thus raising and lowering the rock shaft 26 and with it the arms 24, the latter raising and lowering the shaft 23 carrying the drop rollers 21. The sheet is fed by said rollers 21 and 22 to the folder rollers 29, mounted upon shaft 31, and folder rollers 32 mounted upon the shaft 33. By said folder rollers the sheet is fed to the first fold gage where it is now in position to be acted upon by the first folder shown generally at 34. The constructions thus far described are standard machines and no further description of said machines or of their operation will be given except in such part as may be necessary in order to explain the present .invention as used with said machines. Vhen the sheet has reached the first fold gage safely and if it be without defect, it will contact with a finger 36 andthus actuate certain mechanism through the operation of which the sheet will be permitted to continue its course through the folder and which will be presently described.

7 The present invention contemplates, as has been stated, providing automatic mechanism for stopping the feeder after the passage of each sheet when suflicient time has elapsed for such sheet to have reached a certain point in its ourney through the folder or other machine; and further providing mechanism for preventing the operation of said stopping mechanism if the sheet reaches said point in proper condition. To this preventing mechanism further reference will presently be made. In choosing the point at which to stop the feeder, it should be noted that in common practice such mishaps as occur to sheets in their progress through the feeders, and

1,7eaee? folders occur before the sheet has reached or should have reached its position in the folderfor the first folding operation, and, also, that any defects in a'sheet will have been manifested by that time. Therefore, means are provided for stopping the feeder when suffi cient time has elapsed for the sheet to have reached position ready for the action of the folder'S-sl, as indicated in Fig. 1; Preferably and as shown, said means comprise a cam 37, mounted upon said shaft 14, against which cam the roller 38 on the arm 39 of the bell crank lever 40, mounted on shaft 41, is held by the tension of a spring 42 which'is secured at one end to said lever 4.0 and at its'other end to a shaft 43. On the lever arm 39 is a pin it which engages a lever 46 mounted on a shaft 47, the lever 46 being held normally against the pin 44: by a spring 48 wound on and secured at one end to said shaft 47 and at its opposite end engaging another part of the feeder. Under the tension of the spring 42, see Fig. 1, the roller 38 follows the low side 49 of the cam 37 and the pin 44 thus forces downwardly the lever 46, and so rotates the shaft 47. On the outside end of said shaft 47 is a lever 51' on which in its forward portion is mounted a pin 52, see Fig. 2,-said pin normally holding .in raised position a lever 53 which is connected'to the clutch throwout arm 5% of the feeder. Theclutch mechanism, generally'designated C, see Fig. 2, includes a disk 55 on the rim of which is mounted a spur 56. As the shaft l7 is rotated, as above described, it moves downwardly the lever 51 and with the latter the pin 52, which permits the arm 53 to drop. This latter arm carries a pin 53 which also drops with the arm and is now engaged by said spur 56, as the disk 55 revolves. lVith the continued movement of said disk the lever 53, thru the action of the spur 56 on the pin 53, is drawn forwardly to the left, and with it the clutch throwout arm 54:, from the operative position shown in Fig. 5 to the stop position, shown in Fig. 6, in which the clutch throwout arm 54 disengages the clutch and the sheet feeder ceases operating.

' Mounted on the lever 53 is another pin 57 arranged to engage a lever 58 mounted on a shaft 59, said lever 58 being held against the pin 57 by firmly engaged by the shaft 59 and the other end by the framework, see Figs. 6 and 7. SiCLllGCl to said shaft 59 and arranged at an angle thereto, see Fig. 7, is another lever 62, having a notched end, and said lever 58 also has an extension 63, which latter member is projected inwardly at nearly right angles to the lever 58 and then forwardly, and with a further slight inward curve, see Figs. 6 and 7. As the arm 53 is moved forwardly to the left, the lever 58' under the tension of the spring 61 follows it and the notched end of the lever 62 comes under a roll stud 64 on the a spring 61, one end of which is arm 27, thus insuring that said arm 27 and the feed rolls 21 will be held up away from the paper. As the lever 58 swings to the left, the extension 63 carried by saidlevei moves a loose lever 66 rotatably mounted on the framework t-hru a slot-in the supporting casting, thereby raising up the lever 53 so that when the machine is restarted and said lever 53 returns to its former position, it will be held away from the spur 56 on the clutch disl: for one revolution or until the arm 27 drops, the stud 64 hitting a projection 68 from the end of the loose lever 66, and returning said loose lever 66 to. its normal position. After this the lever 53 is held up by the cam 37 and a rack member presently to be described. iVit-hout this the feeder would stop again before making a revolution; The feeder is started by pushing a rod 69 fastened to the throwout arm 54 and which runs to the front of the feeder. It will be obvious that the cams are timed with the various parts so that all will coordinate to bring about' the desired result.

It will be seen that with a construction as thus far described, the feeder will be automatically stopped whenever a sheet fed'into,

the roller should have reached the first folding position or has reached such position with certain defects. Means are provided, however, tovcontinue the normal operation of the feederand folder if the sheet hasreached the folding position in normal course and in proper condition. As shown, see Fig. 1, a rod 71 is connected at one end to the bellcrank lever iO and at its opposite end to a lever 72 pivoted on a bracket 73 and having its lower arm 74 arranged to engage a rack bar 76. This rack bar extends forwardly thruan orifice 77 in aflbracket 78 mounted on the folder. Rotatably mounted on the bracket 7 8 and loosely mounted on the same pivot as the finger 36 and controlled in its movements by an extensionron the upper part of said finger, as shown in Fig. 3, is a detent 7 9 adapted to engage the teeth of the rack bar 7 6 and prevent its forward move-' ment. Said detent is normally held out of locking position with said teeth by the finger 36 thru the weight of an extension 81 of said finger which normally keeps the finger 36 in the position shown in Fig. 3. 7 With the construction thus described it will be seen'that as soon as a sheet has reached the firstfolding position in the folder, its edge, if the sheet is in proper condition, will contact With the finger 36 and move the same into the position shown in Fig. 1, thus allowing the detent 79 to drop into engagement with the teeth of the rack bar 21 and locking the latter against movement. It Will further be evident that the spring e2 will also be prevented from exerting its tension on the bellcrank lever 40 so as-to make the arm 39 and roller 38 follow the low-face of'the cam 37 and thereby pull down the lever 46, and thus arrivalof-thesheet'in first folding position is calculated so as to synchronize properly with the movements of the other parts necessary for the proper operation of the machine.

'It will be noted also that the device is useful with signatures, as when the last sheet of a signature has been fed to the folder, the feeder will stop. More machines, also, can be attended to by an operator.

It will be seen that a machine constructed according to the invention as hereinbefore described will carry out-the objects of'the invention as above'enumerated', besides possessingmany other advantages which will be apparent'to those skilledin the art.

'The invention is not limited to the precise construction shown and described, as many changes may be made in the details thereof without departing from the main principles of the invention oi"sacrificing its chief advantages. 1 I q 1 Iclaim:

1. In mechanism of the type d e'scribed'thev combination of sheet feeding mechanism, means for automatically stopping the operation of said feeding mechanism, a; sheet fold? ing mechanism including a folding unit and 7 sheet advancing means intermediate thefold ing unit andthe sheet feeding mechanism, said sheet advancing means operating to advance the fed sheets to the folding unit in o; sition to be acted upon thereby, and means actuated by the sheet'when so positioned for rendering the stoppingmeans inactive.- I

2. In mechanism of the type described, the combination of sheet feeding mechanism, means for automatically stopping the opera tion of said feedingmechanism, a sheet fold ing mechanism including a folding unitin relation to which the sheet is positioned for folding, and means actuated by the sheet when so positioned for rendering the stopping means inactive, said sheet actuated means comprising a movable member operatively connected with said stopping means, and a lock for said movable member in position to be actuated by the sheet to-hold said movable member against movement. p

In mechanism of the-type described, the combination of sheet feeding mechanism, means for automaticallystopping the operation of saidfeeding mechanism, a sheet folding mechanism-including a foldingunit in tion of said feedin mechanism, a sheet folding mechanism including a folding unit in relation to which the sheetis positioned for folding, and means actuated by the sheet when so positioned for rendering the stopping means inactive, said sheet actuated means comprising an endwise movable ratchet bar, a rocking lever pivoted to the bar for moving it endwise, a connecting rod from said lever to the stopping mechanism, a spring acting on said rod, and a movable looking detent for said bar normally disengaged therefrom and arranged to be moved by the sheet into engagement with the bar to lock the same against movement.

5. An automatic stop mechanism for a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, means for automatically stopping the'operation of the feeder, a pivotall mounted lever, a rod at one end engaging an arm of said lever, a spring engaging the opposite end of said rod and forming part of said stopping means, a rack engaging the opposite end of said lever and arranged to be reciprocatedthereby, and a detentarranged to be placed in looking arrangement with said rack by contact of a sheet in said folder, whereby said rack will be held against movement and thereby said lever and rod will be held against movement and'said spring prevented from functioning. Y e

6. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, means for moving the clutch bar of the feeder into stop position, and a cam for actuating said means, said cam being mounted on the shaft of the feeder controlling the feed rollers and being timed to operate when a sheet fed into the folder should have reached folding position, and means for preventing the actuation by said cam of said first named means, said means being actuated by the sheet when it has reached said folding position.

7. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, an arm engaging the clutch bar of the feeder and provided with a projectingpin, and a spur projecting from the rim of the clutch disk adapted to engage said pin, whereby on the rotation of the disk said arm will be moved and throw the clutch bar into stop position, and means for raising said arm and pin out of the path of said spur when the sheet should have reached apredetermined position in the folder.-

8. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, an arm engaging the clutch bar of the feeder and provided with a roectin in and a sour ro'ectin 'from b 7 b the rim of the clutch disk adapted to engage said pin, whereby on the rotation of thedisk said arm will be moved and throw the clutch bar into stop position, and means for raising said arm and pin out of the path of said spur when the sheet should have reached a predetermined position in the folder, said means being actuated by contact with the sheet. 7

9. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, an arm engaging the clutch bar of the feeder and provided with a projecting pin, and a spur projecting from the rim of the clutch dish adapted to engage said pin, whereby on the rotation of the disk said arm will be moved and, throw the clutch barinto stop position. v

10. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, an arm engaging the clutch bar of the feeder and provided with a projecting pin, and a spur projecting from the rim of the clutch disk adapted to engage said pin, whereby on the rotation of the disk said arm will be moved and throw the clutch bar into stop pos1t1on,and means for raising said arm and pin out of the path of said spur;

11. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheetfolder including in combination, means for moving the clutch bar of the feeder into stop position, a cam, and a lever rolling on said cam for act-uating said means, and means for preventing the rollingof said lever on the low face of said cam., r

12. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, means for moving the clutch bar of the feeder into stop position, a cam, and a lever rolling on said cam for actuating said means, and'means actuated by contact of the sheet for preventing the rolling of said lever on the low face of said cam.

13. An automatic stop mechanism for use with a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination, means formovingthe starting mechanism of the feeder into stop position, a cam, and a lever rollingon said cam for actuating said means, and means actuated by contact of the sheet for preventing the rolling of said lever on the low face of said cam.

1 14. An automatic stop mechanism for a sheet feeder and a sheet folder including in combination ,an arm engaging the clutch bar of the feeder and provided with aprojecting pin, a clutch disk provided with a spur projecting from the rim thereof and adapted to engage said pin, whereby on the rotation of the disk said arm will be moved to throw the clutch bar into stop position, means for lifting said arm out of the path of said spur for a predetermined period, and means for keeping said arm in raised position thru a revolution of said clutch disk, said means including a lever rotatably mounted in said feeder and arranged to engage said arm and keep it in said raised position, means, for moving said lever into operative position, and means for returning said lever to its normal position.

15. An automatic stop mechanism for a sheet feeder and sheet folder including in combination, rollers in the feeder for feeding thesheet to the folder, means including an arm for feeding the sheet to the folder, means including an arm for raising the rollers out of operative position, a second arm having a roll stud thereon, and means for raising said first arm comprising a third arm engaging the clutch bar of the feeder and provided with a projecting pin, a clutch disk provided with a spur projecting from the rim thereof and adapted toengage said pin, 7

whereby on the rotation of the disk said arm will he moved to throw the clutch barinto stop position, a shaft mounted in said feeder, a lever rigidly mounted on said shaft and normally held in engagement with the said pin, and a second lever mounted on said shaft and adapted to engage said roll stud, where by upon the movement of said third arm said second lever will be moved to engage said roll stud and lift said first arm out of operative position.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature hereto.

JAMES E. LANDERS. 

